Nationally known minister Prentice Meador takes up Baxter Chair of Preaching
Janel Shoun |
Meador recently completed 19 years as senior minister at Prestoncrest church of Christ in Dallas, and he and his wife Barbara have worked with congregations in Tennessee, Illinois, California, Washington, and Missouri. Meador also serves as a member of the Lipscomb University Board of Trustees.
Meador appears regularly on the American Religious Townhall telecast, a program seen on 300 stations across the U.S. In June 2004, Prentice was honored to serve as guest Chaplain in the U.S. Senate. His prayer at the U.S. Senate is featured in the special commemorative volume of tributes to President Ronald Reagan.
“Brother Baxter was Dr. Meador's minister, mentor and close friend. In this part-time position, Dr. Meador will train ministers and other students who will be going into various ministries,” Craig Bledsoe, Lipscomb provost, said in his announcement of Meador’s appointment. “President Randy Lowry has also invited Dr. Meador to assist him as the university moves into the future in its relationships with churches.”
Meador will be relocating to Nashville to join the Lipscomb faculty in August. He will be the second minister, after Marlin Connelly, to hold the Baxter Chair of Preaching, which was established by the Hillsboro Church of Christ in Nashville in 1982.
The Baxter Chair of Preaching was established “to ensure that Batsell Barrett Baxter’s consuming desire to spread the good news of Jesus Christ shall continue for all years to come,” according to a fund-raising brochure in the 1980s.
Baxter was minister at Hillsboro from 1957 until his retirement in 1980 and chair of the Lipscomb Bible department from 1956 until his death at age 65.
Meador has distinguished himself in various ways in the fellowship of the Churches of Christ. He writes for several publications and has authored several books in the field of religion, including Walk With Me, Genesis: The Great Story, Promises to Keep and Stories That Astonish: The Parables of Jesus. In 1992, Meador became managing editor of 21st Century Christianmagazine.
Meador earned his bachelor’s degree from Lipscomb University in 1960 and his master’s and doctorate degrees from the University of Illinois, Urbana, in 1961 and 1964, respectively. He is a Clinical Member of the American Association of Marriage & Family Therapists (AAMFT).
Meador’s academic career includes teaching communication at the University of California at Los Angeles, the University of Washington Seattle and Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield. His fields of specialization are Greek, Roman, and Medieval Studies.
In 1994, Meador received Lipscomb’s Representative of the Decade Award. His family ties to Lipscomb University are strong. His father, Prentice Meador Sr., is a Lipscomb alumni and served as an elder of the Hillsboro Church of Christ at the time the Chair of Preaching was endowed. His mother taught two generations of fourth graders at David Lipscomb Campus Schools, his sister is an alumna and his son Mark currently serves as Senior Director of Alumni Relations at Lipscomb.
The Meadors have three married children and ten grandchildren. Barbara, is a Lipscomb alumna and a Registered Nurse who plans to serve Lipscomb by promoting spiritual formation among Lipscomb’s nursing students.
When the Hillsboro Church of Christ first established the Baxter Chair of Preaching, the congregation contributed $1,500 each month until 1986, when the elders decided a more permanent funding mechanism was needed. They launched a two-year national fund-raising campaign that raised the total $500,000 needed to endow the chair.
During his preaching career, Baxter was widely known for his television and radio ministries with the Herald of Truth, where he worked with Lipscomb University past-president Harold Hazelip.
“If there is one person whose name stands out for the most effective preaching in our brotherhood in the immediate past generation, it is Batsell Barrett Baxter,” said Hazelip at the time of the chair endowment.